


Ghost of You

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: Dance with the Devil [22]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Regency, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-22 05:05:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12474124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: Widowed and near penniless, Caroline accepts the kindness of an opportunity to work as a governess. But it turns out that things are not what they seem, and old ghosts aren't ready to walk away.





	Ghost of You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LaLainaJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaLainaJ/gifts).



> Klaroline AU Week Prompt: Possibly the most popular AU and the options are nearly endless. This is the day you cast Klaroline as celebs, coworkers or strangers who meet cute and see where they end up.

She’d missed London, even if her reasons for returning were less optimistic than her childhood memories. The weight of her wedding band had been sold weeks ago. Her husband was dead, her tiny stipend just enough to scrape by if she was careful. When Elena had written her of an opening for a governess, she’d barely finished reading the letter before making her decision.

What choice did she have?

Her father was dead; her inheritance squandered. Whatever help her mother’s old friends might have offered Lady Elizabeth’s daughter they would not extend the same courtesy to Lockwood’s widow. But Caroline wasn’t so proud to avoid an opportunity that assured some comfort even if she could hear her mother’s horrified voice in the back of her mind.

Caroline knew chances of securing a second marriage of worth was beyond hope, regardless of old ghosts and broken promises. She’d mourned that part of her life the day she’d married Tyler, and she’d refused to look back. If she’d learned anything from the slow decline of her mother it was to focus on the present.

The little townhouse sat in a pretty neighborhood, if not one of great wealth. The merchants had a daughter they’d hoped to make a good match, their new wealth a detriment in some circles. It was a story Caroline was familiar with, and she’d found herself wishing this girl more luck than her family. Lady Elizabeth had been born in a proper family, but William Forbes had been merchant stock. Perhaps it’s have been worse if the match had been for love instead of practicality, better Caroline had been a son.

But those were old wounds.

Smoothing her travel wrinkled skirts, she murmured her thanks as she was handed out of the carriage. A few moments later, and she was standing in the foyer, taking in the tasteful furniture that wasn’t quite the height of fashion. Following the soft spoken maid into a sitting room, Caroline’s footsteps faltered as she took in the room.

Instead of a middle aged family with a sulky daughter, there was a man sitting with an air of resigned impatience. Caroline barely registered the door shutting softly behind her, the thundering of her heart too loud in her ears as he stood. For a moment, she could only state, drinking in the changes the years had made to his face.

It was clear he hadn’t returned to England all that long ago, the skin of his face still darkened by the sun. The scruff on his cheeks was familiar, as was the heat behind his eyes sad he took her in, but the softness of his younger features had given way to strong jaw and he’d grown into his lips. Five years ago he’d been a distraction she couldn’t shake, today he was devastating.

His lips curled into slow smile. “Hello, Caroline. Nothing to say?”

The amusement in his eyes, the familiar intimacy of her given name on his tongue, jerked her back into awareness, and she was thankful her hair hid her burning ears. “My lord, what is the meaning of this? There is no chaperone.”

Instead of irritation, he merely tipped his head. “I thought perhaps this conversation would best be had in privacy, love. The servants are mine. Your reputation is safe. Please, sit.”

For a long moment, she considered leaving. Nothing good could come from this meeting, not when her heart still pounded too loudly at the mere sight of him. Lord Klaus Mikaelson, third son of Earl Mikael Mikaelson, had once been her betrothed. It’d been seen as a good match, a steady one that would bring her dowery into the suffering Mikaelson coffers and provide a minor son with a wife of good breeding.

But a week before the banners had been posted, he’d disappeared. Caroline would have chosen to wait for his return, except the truth of her father’s bookkeeping had come to light. She’d been fortunate to secure a marriage to a minor parisher once the dust had settled.

Now she was a widow, and Klaus had returned.

Cursing her curiosity, the nights she’d spent wondering what had caused him to run, she determinedly walked towards the seat he’d motioned towards. Someone had set up a light tea, but nerves stole her appetite. Lips pressed tightly together, she waited for him to break the silence.

“You look well,” Klaus murmured, gaze warm against her skin. “I am glad.”

Caroline tilted her chin. “Did you arrange this meeting for the purpose of small talk?”

The truth of it rattled her. She wondered if the Governess position had ever been real. If he’d deliberately capitalized on her friendship with Elena. But why? It’d been six years since he’d left.

A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “I arranged this meeting to discuss our upcoming nuptials.”

She froze in her chair, muscles drawn tight and stiff as he watched her from beneath his lashes. Swallowing harshly, fingers curling tightly into her palms, she shook her head. “You cannot be serious.”

The intensity of his gaze didn’t waver. “Oh, I am quite serious. I made you a promise all those years ago, one I intend to keep.”

She could no more stop the heat of her blush then the shudder that ran across her skin as his gaze traced the flush in her cheeks. She was thankful her skirts hid the way her thighs instinctively pressed together at the rumble in his voice. At seventeen Klaus had been a temptation she’d been unable to resist, at twenty-three and no stranger to the marriage bed, she was afraid she could be coaxed into any number of sins.

“That was years ago,” she rasped, swallowing when her voice wavered. “We’ve both lived differently lives. I am no longer an appropriate match and…”

Her words died at something dangerous flared in his eyes. Klaus didn’t drop her gaze, instead he let her see the truth of what now lived beneath his skin. The boy who’d teased and seduced her into allowing him to slip the heat of his hands past the flimsy barrier of her skirts, who’d made all sorts of fascinating promises about their marriage bed, had grown into something new.

“Mikael thought he was quite clever, in arranging a match with your family. He was a greedy bastard, one who thought merely in terms of political alliances and wealth. He would never have dreamed that I’d have wanted you as my own. That my desire for you was far more than just lust for a pretty face.”

She stayed silent, unsure how to respond. This meeting had taken a turn she’d never have anticipated. Klaus didn’t seemed bothered, mouth quirking upwards in one corner. The shadow of a dimple caught in his cheek and she found she still wished trace that indentation with her fingertips.

“Rebekah told me that you’d looked for me.” His eyes flared, something hot and wanting crawling behind his eyes. “That you her wrote for assurance that I was alive.”

Caroline shook her head, fingers clenching in her skirt. There was no way to describe the way her relief mingled with betrayal at Rebekah’s reply. The ruined tender emotions she’d harbored secretly, unwilling to admit them even in the privacy of her own mind. Marriage wasn’t about love, she’d known that, but she’d been unable to stop the way her heart at responded to Klaus.

“What happened then doesn’t matter.”

Klaus leaned forward and caught her hand between his own, coaxing her fingers free of the first she’d made of it. Toes curling in her slippers, she tried to ignore the way his fingers left her skin too tight, too warm. If she’d been smart, she’d have tugged her hand free from the improper touch. She’d have left.

“And you wonder why I will marry you.”

“My lord,” she whispered, shaking her head. It twisted like a knife, to realize that she still cared for him. That as badly as she wished to accept his offer, the security of it, she knew how the tin would react to such a marriage. She would not allow him to sacrifice his happiness for hers. “Stop this madness. We cannot. Surely your brother does not approve?”

She was a near penniless widow. The daughter of a merchant. She had nothing to offer him.

“Elijah would not dare disapprove,” Klaus dismissed, eyes turning hard. “I am the only thing standing in the way of his imminent bankruptcy.”

Her teeth dug into her lip, and for the first time, Caroline allowed her to really consider what he seemed so set on. “I do not understand.”

“And yet, you have not asked why I abandoned you six years ago.” His gaze lingered on her mouth. “You do not watch me with indifferent eyes, Caroline, nor with the gaze of a wife who’d been well satisfied.”

Caroline pulled her hand away with a sharp tug, pushing to her feet. Klaus’ gaze narrowed, but he released her. She nearly tripped as he followed her up, stepping away from his hands once she’d steadied.

“I don’t believe that requires an explanation,” she said hastily. “We cannot do this.”

Klaus ignored her response, leisurely following her as she worked to keep the table between them. There was something sharp behind his eyes, and beneath the edge, a hunger that left her a touch breathless.

“Mikael shipped me off into the navy,” he said casually. “You see, he’d recently discovered my mother’s affair, and he decided that my difficulty as a child meant I was the son of another man.”

Caroline froze, eyes wide. She’d known their relationship had always been continuous, Mikael only seeing weaknesses in this third son. “I…”

“Surprisingly, in this one thing, he’d been correct. My real father had kept this secret, but when he learned what had been done, he arranged a officer’s commission. It is my belief that in order to protect our family’s reputation, Mikael had your father’s debts called in as a reason to void the marriage contract without paying restitution to your family.”

She swayed at the news, and Klaus took advantage of her shock, catching both her hands in between his. Caroline stared up at his face, taking in the changes to his features with new eyes. “How are you here?”

“When Mikael and my eldest brother died from a wasting sickness, Elijah arranged for my return to England.” Klaus’ expression was dismissive, mouth a hard line. “The family estate is nearly in ruin, the coffers your dowry had been meant to replenish drained by a lifestyle the estates could not support.”

“But you’ve only an officer’s commission,” she breathed. “Surely he doesn’t expect you to give up your income for a family that abandoned you.”

He laughed softly, bringing her chilly hands to the warmth of his mouth. Her breath hitched, at the press of his lips, and he smiled against her skin. “Would it bother you, if that was all I had?”

Caroline allowed herself to soften, for a single heartbeat she returned the pressure of his fingers against hers. “That is not why I am refusing.”

His unfairly pretty lashes dipped, hiding his eyes for a moment, and when his gaze returned to hers it blazed with determination. Her pulse skipped at the way he watched her, thumb brushing deceptively lazy against the underside of her wrist. His tongue traced along his bottom but, and heat built low in her belly.

“Perhaps you’d be kind enough to enlighten me.”

“I’ve told you…”

He interrupted before she could utter another word. “Did you miss the part where I am a bastard, Caroline?”

“But no one knows,” she pointed out stubbornly. “You could still make a good match.”

“That,” he said softly, casually. “Is easily rectified.”

It took her a moment to grasp that he meant the status of his birth. She stared at him, shock widening her eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

“Rebekah is married,” he said calmly. “Kol will be fine.”

“You cannot,” she said aghast, freeing her hands. “You would ruin…”

Klaus’ head dipped, eyes burning into hers. “The only opinion I care about is yours. And if you feel this need to continue to believe that you are somehow less due to the actions Mikael took to ruin your family, I will take whatever measures I deem necessary.”

“We barely know each other,” she protested, face flaming. “One dalliance…”

His mouth was unexpected and soft, for all the fierceness of his kiss. It was wrong and improper, and utterly wonderful. When he pulled back her breathing was ragged, his lips flushed.

“Shall we make it two?”

Every nerve ending lit up in a way not one night in her husband’s bed had managed. Shivering at the rumbled invitation, she struggled for composure. Klaus did not give her a chance, fingertips lifting to stroke her collarbones.

“If you do not want me,” Klaus said softly. “Then I will respect your decision. But no more of this nonsense of not being a good match.”

She trembled. “I’m no longer young.”

His lips curved, a sinful smile that brushed across her skin like a caress. “I’ve no use for a child, Caroline. Shall I prove it to you?”

“Must you be so improper?” Caroline rasped, but she did not fight him as he tugged her gently towards a chair. If she allowed this, then she’d have no chance to walk away. But she found she couldn’t find the will to rebuke him for his sake alone. Not when her skin ached with the memory of his touch, when the curiosity her husband had never bothered to satisfy burned.

“If I remember correctly, you did not mind being improper with me before?” Klaus drawled, coaxing her to straddle his lap after he’d sat.

“We were betrothed,” she reminded him.

“I would take you to Gretna Green this afternoon, should you allow,” he murmured as he encouraged her to hold up the edge of her skirts, palms finding the soft skin of her thighs. “Rebekah thought you’d like a wedding. The Bans are in place and I’ve procured a Special License. I’ve every intention of trapping you in every way possible.”

Her lips parted in surprise, and his knuckles brushed a slow line where she’d grown hot and wet. Shuddering, she bit down on her lower lip to stifle the next little cry. Klaus made a soft, disapproving sound.

“None of that. I’d like to hear you, Caroline.” He lowered her gaze to her chest, teeth scraping his lips. “Particularly if you have no desire for a hasty ceremony. My memory of your smell, the sounds you make, will have to suffice to relieve my aching cock.”

Her face burned. “Klaus.”

He rewarded her by slipping a finger inside her, then a second, on her moan. “Here I’d thought you’d forgotten my name.”

Caroline couldn’t find the breath to respond, fingers clenching into her skirts as he continued to touch her. She grew so wet she could hear it, the greed on her face, his attention to every cry and twitch of muscle leaving her over warm and hazy. There was no muffling her moans as she grew closer to her peak, no way to stop herself from melting against his chest once she reached it.

She had no concept of how long she laid there, his fingers moving wetly against her thigh. He finally bent his head, lips brushing the edge of her ear. “Today or in a week, I will have you in my bed, Caroline. Choose.”

Her skirts were crushed, body soft and sated against his. In that moment, she didn’t want to move, didn’t want to leave. Improper or not, sprawled across Klaus’ lap was the most content she’d felt in years. “Today.”

He fingers froze, and the hand not pressed against her skin coaxed her into looking at him. “Are you sure? No regrets, Caroline.”

“I’m certain,” she replied with a nod. “I don’t want to wait.”

His satisfied smile was slow and her pulse kicked at the heat of it. “After, you’ll decide which estate you want us to live in.”

Caroline blinked. “Estate? I thought you only had an officer’s commission.”

His eyes filled with an indulgent amusement, even as he helped her stand on shaky knees, smoothing her skirts as best they could. “Did you?”

“Klaus!”

He laughed, bringing her hand to his mouth. “I will explain in the carriage, love. I think you’ll be delighted by your future prospects. None of which will involve you working as a governess.”

“And you will tell me how you convinced Elena to help you arrange this charade,” Caroline said firmly.

“If I must.”

She tried to glare at him, but couldn’t stop the twitching smile that wanted to bubble free. The little sliver of happiness she’d glimpsed years ago threatened to turn her smile too wide. She’d marry Klaus today. She knew he thought he was trapping her, the knowledge of his true parentage a burden. But Caroline had loved him at seventeen, and those emotions had never truly faded even during his supposed betrayal.

She’d marry him today, assuring that he couldn’t escape her.


End file.
